U.S. patent number 5,357,388 [Application Number 07/949,922] was granted by the patent office on 1994-10-18 for shorted dual element magnetoresistive reproduce head exhibiting high density signal amplification.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Eastman Kodak Company. Invention is credited to Neil Smith.
United States Patent |
5,357,388 |
Smith |
October 18, 1994 |
Shorted dual element magnetoresistive reproduce head exhibiting
high density signal amplification
Abstract
An MR head includes two substantially identical MR elements,
separated by a thin film non-magnetic spacer which is electrically
conductive along at least a portion of its length. A current
applied to the MR head splits into two respective substantially
equal currents that flow in the same direction through the
substantially identical MR elements, to provide mutual bias and to
serve as sense currents for detecting change in element resistance.
The MR elements are biased to operate in a magnetically unsaturated
mode. This results in a "bootstrapping" of short wavelength signals
that effectively amplifies the reproduced signal over a broad
region of the signal spectrum when the linear spacing between the
MR elements is in the range of from one half to one times the
half-wavelength of signals recorded on a magnetic recording
medium.
Inventors: |
Smith; Neil (San Diego,
CA) |
Assignee: |
Eastman Kodak Company
(Rochester, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
23991654 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/949,922 |
Filed: |
November 16, 1992 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
|
802576 |
Dec 5, 1991 |
5193038 |
|
|
|
500978 |
Mar 29, 1990 |
5084794 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
360/315;
G9B/5.026; G9B/5.131; G9B/5.141 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G11B
5/02 (20130101); G11B 5/3954 (20130101); G11B
5/399 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G11B
5/02 (20060101); G11B 5/39 (20060101); G11B
005/127 () |
Field of
Search: |
;360/113 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Heinz; A. J.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Noval; William F.
Parent Case Text
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 802,576, filed Dec. 5,
1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,038, which is a divisional of
application Ser. No. 500,978, filed Mar. 29, 1990, which issued as
U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,794 in the name of Applicant.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A magnetic head assembly for detecting magnetically recorded
signals having recorded wavelengths, said magnetic head assembly
comprising:
a) a first thin film magnetoresistive element,
b) a second thin film magnetoresistive element,
c) a planar non-magnetic thin film spacer in contact with said
magnetoresistive elements for separation of said first and said
second magnetoresistive elements, said spacer further comprising
electrically conductive regions, whereby said electrically
conductive regions of said spacer provide electrical shorting
between said first and said second magnetoresistive elements,
d) means for longitudinal concurrent current flow in said first and
said second elements, whereby said elements unsaturatedly mutually
magnetically bias each other,
e) means for coupling magnetic signal fields from said magnetically
recorded signals to said first and said second magnetoresistive
elements in a direction perpendicular to said current flow, whereby
said first and said second magnetoresistive elements are
concurrently responsive to said signal fields, and
f) means for detecting the resistance change in said
magnetoresistive elements in response to said signal fields.
2. The magnetic head assembly of claim 1 wherein said magnetically
recorded signals have been horizontally recorded.
3. The magnetic head assembly of claim 1 wherein said first and
said second magnetoresistive elements are substantially matched for
magnetic and electrical characteristics.
4. The magnetic head assembly of claim 1 wherein said first and
second magnetoresistive elements have first and second induced
anisotropy axes along said short dimensions of said
magnetoresistive elements respectively.
5. The magnetic head assembly of claim 1 wherein said current means
is means for providing equal amplitude currents flowing in said
first and said second magnetoresistive elements.
6. The magnetic head assembly of claim 1 wherein said means for
coupling signal fields concurrently couples alternating direction
signal fields to said first and said second magnetoresistive
elements respectively, whereby said alternating fields cooperate
with said first and said second magnetoresistive elements to
provide amplification of the resistance change in said
magnetoresistive elements in response to said signals.
7. The magnetic head of claim 1 wherein said spacer is means for
spatially separating said first and said second magnetoresistive
elements by a distance in the range of from one half to one times
the half wavelength of said recorded signals.
8. The magnetic head assembly of claim 1 wherein said spacer is
substantially geometrically congruent to said first
magnetoresistive element.
9. The magnetic head assembly of claim 1 wherein said second
magnetoresistive element is substantially geometrically congruent
to said first magnetoresistive element.
10. The magnetic head assembly of claim 1 wherein said first and
second magnetoresistive elements are substantially rectangular.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetoresistive reproduce head, and in
particular to a dual element magnetoresistive head.
2. Description Relative to the Prior Art
The magnetoresistive (MR) reproduce head has gained wide acceptance
in the magnetic recording field since it was disclosed in U.S. Pat.
No. 3,493,694, issued to Hunt in 1970. The MR head is characterized
by high output and low noise, making it particularly attractive for
reproducing short wavelength signals. It may be fabricated by thin
film deposition techniques allowing the relatively inexpensive
manufacture of multitrack heads with narrow track widths for high
density recording applications. A variety of shielded and
unshielded configurations using single and dual MR elements and
incorporating a number of biasing techniques are known in the
art.
Dual element MR heads are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,965
entitled "Magnetoresistive Read Head Assembly Having Matched
Elements for Common Mode Rejection", issued in the name of Voegili
and U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,140 entitled, "Magnetoresistive Sensor with
Opposing Currents for Reading Perpendicularly Recorded Media",
issued in the names of Gill et al. The heads disclosed in these
patents comprise parallel MR elements separated by thin
electrically insulating layers. It has long been known in the art
that MR structures such as the above, whose elements are separated
by thin electrically insulating spacers, are subject to shorting
problems. Such shorting may be due to pin holes in the insulating
spacer, or may occur in head lapping, or during head operation when
the abrasive magnetic tape being reproduced can smear the soft MR
element across the spacer, shorting it to adjacent conductive
material. This has occurred, for example, in heads utilizing soft
adjacent layer biasing where an MR element is separated by an thin
electrically insulating spacer from a conductive magnetic material
whose magnetic field induces the bias in the MR element. Bajorek et
al, recognizing the problem in their U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,489
entitled "Magnetoresistive Sandwich including Sensor Electrically
Parallel with Electrical Shunt and Magnetic Biasing Layers", teach
overcoming the problem by intentionally shorting the MR sensing
layer and the magnetic biasing layer by use of a very thin (220
angstrom), contiguous conductive separation layer. However, the
structure disclosed by Bajorek et al, is stated to result in a 30%
loss of signal from the single MR sensor for a given energy
dissipation in the head because the current flowing through the
conductive shunting layer provides no contribution to signal
output.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a preferred embodiment, the MR dual element head of the present
invention solves the shorting problem between two MR elements
(which serve both as sensing elements and mutual biasing elements)
without suffering the penalty of significant signal reduction due
to shunting of the sense current. The two identical MR elements may
be electrically insulated from each other by an insulating spacer
layer except where shorted at the respective ends or may be shorted
along their entire lengths by a contiguous electrically conductive
non-magnetic spacer. A current applied to the shorted MR elements
splits into two equal currents that flow in the same direction
through the substantially identical MR elements to provide the
bias, and to serve as sense currents for detecting element
resistance change. There is no voltage difference across the
spacer, and, therefore, electrically conductive regions between the
MR elements do not interfere with detection of recorded
signals.
Additionally in the practice of the invention, the MR elements are
biased to operate in a magnetically unsaturated mode. This results
in a "bootstrapping" of short wavelength signals that effectively
amplifies the reproduced signal over a broad region of the signal
spectrum. The design criterion for determining the amplified
portion of the spectrum calls for a linear spacing between the MR
elements in the range of from one half to one times the linear
distance between the flux changes recorded on the signal medium.
Over this range of spacer thickness, the amplified response is
relatively insensitive to the separation. For a short wavelength
flux density of 80 kiloflux changes per inch, the spacer is
typically selected to have a thickness of about 1500 angstroms.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be described with respect to the figures, of
which:
FIG. 1 is a drawing of a dual MR head according to the invention,
in contact with a recorded magnetic tape,
FIG. 2 is a schematic drawing of the resistances of the MR elements
of the head of FIG. 1,
FIG. 3a illustrates the mutual biasing of the MR elements of the
head of the invention,
FIG. 3b is a plot of the fractional change in resistance of the
oppositely biased MR elements as a function of applied magnetic
field,
FIG. 4 is a plot of the fractional change in resistance of the MR
elements of the head of the invention for applied signal, FIGS. 5a,
5b, 5c illustrate the signal amplification effect exhibited by the
head of the invention,
FIG. 6 is a plot of the output signal level as a function of
recorded flux density for the head of the invention compared to
that of an unshielded MR head, and
FIG. 7 is a drawing of a second embodiment of the head of the
invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the MR elements are
electrically shorted to each other at their longitudinal ends, but
are separated by an electrically insulating spacer for the rest of
their lengths. Referring to FIG. 1, a dual MR head 70 consists of
two magnetically, electrically and geometrically matched MR
elements 72,74. The MR elements 72,74 are separated over
substantially their entire lengths by a non-conductive spacer 76.
At the longitudinal ends of the spacer 76 are two electrically
shorting stubs 78,80, of the same width as the spacer 76, which
electrically short the two MR elements to each other. A sense and
biasing current 82 flowing to the head 70 via the leads 84, 86
divides between the two MR elements 72,74 into the equal currents
88,90, because the MR elements 72,74 are identical, and because of
the electrically shorting stubs 78,80. Referring to FIG. 2, the
equivalent electrical circuit of the structure of the MR head 70 is
seen with the current 82 flowing into the parallel resistances
R.sub.72, which is the resistance of MR element 72, and R.sub.74
which is that of the MR element 74. Assuming an inadvertent
electrical short 92 occurs between the MR elements 72, 74, due,
say, to a pin hole in the insulating spacer 76, no appreciable
current flows through such short because of the substantially
identical characteristics of the MR elements 72, 74 and because the
equality of the currents 88, 90, and the voltages e.sub.1, e.sub.2
along the length of each of the MR elements 72,74. That is, no
current flows in the electrical short 92, and the distribution of
currents in the MR elements is unchanged by the electrical short
92. Therefore, the magnetic biasing and the signal performance,
which are functions of the sense currents 88, 90, are operationally
immune to the presence of shorts.
The thin film MR elements 72,74 are rectangular in shape. This
configuration results in the shape anisotropy of the MR film being
along the longitudinal axis of the film, which is also the
direction of the unbiased magnetization of the film. As will be
explained below, the bias rotates the magnetization from this axial
direction, and the signals from the medium further modulate the
position of the magnetization, changing the film resistance. It
will be noted that the signal fields from the tape 30 are directed
along the short dimensions of the MR elements 72,74. The
longitudinal width of the sandwich is generally equal to or
slightly less than a track width of the data recorded on the tape
30. The values of the head parameters are determined by the
application. For example, in a head having a 50 micron trackwidth
and operating at 80 kiloflux changes per inch, suitable parameters
are: the widths of the MR elements 72, 74 and the spacer 76 equal
to 50 microns, the MR element 72,74 thicknesses equal to
approximately 250 angstroms, the thickness of the spacer 76 equal
to 1500 angstroms, and the heights of the MR elements 72,74, and of
the spacer 76 equal to 5 microns.
The MR head 70 is seen in contact with a magnetic tape 30 having
alternately magnetized portions 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, throughout the
length of the tape 30, which comprise the information recorded on
the tape 30. A wavelength of the recorded signal on the tape 30
encompasses two contiguous, oppositely directed magnetized regions,
for example, the regions covered by the arrows 32 and 34. The
number of alternating magnetized portions 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 per
inch is the number of flux changes per inch recorded on the tape
30.
Referring to FIG. 3a, the currents 88, 90, flowing in the same
direction into the MR elements 72,74 generate the magnetic fields
that result in the mutual biasing of the elements 72,74, because
each of the MR elements, as well as being field detection elements,
acts as a soft adjacent biasing layer for the other. As the
elements 72,74 are magnetically and geometrically the same, and
because the amplitudes of the currents 88,90 are the same, the bias
field H.sub.B at element 72 due to the soft adjacent biasing layer
action of the MR element 74, is equal in magnitude and opposite in
sign to the bias field -H.sub.B at element 74 due to the soft
adjacent biasing action of the MR element 72. As is known in the
art, in biasing the MR elements 72,74, the magnetic field H.sub.B
rotates the magnetization of the MR element 72 in one direction,
and the field -H.sub.B rotates the magnetization of the MR element
74 an equal amount in the opposite direction.
Referring to FIG. 3b, the curves 42,42' are the symmetrical, change
of resistance vs. magnetic field curves for the biased
magnetoresistive elements 72,74. As described above, the bias
fields in the elements 72,74 have the same amplitudes but opposite
signs, and the elements 72,74 themselves are magnetically matched.
Therefore, the curves 42,42' (which are arbitrarily assigned to the
MR elements 72 and 74 respectively) are substantially identical,
and are symmetrically shifted with respect to the origin by the
applied bias fields. The horizontal axis of FIG. 3b being the
applied signal field, H.sub.s, it will be seen that with no applied
signal field, the quiescent bias point 44 is symmetrically
positioned on the oppositely sloping sides of the curves
42,42'.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,560, "Self-Biased Magnetoresistive Reproduce
Head" issued in the name of Doyle, and assigned to the same
Assignee as the instant application, teaches orienting the induced
anisotropy fields of an MR element and a biasing adjacent layer so
that their induced anisotropy fields lie in the same directions
along the short dimension of the rectangular magnetoresistive
elements. It will be recalled in the present invention that each of
the MR elements 72,74 acts as a soft adjacent layer for the biasing
the other element in addition to its role as a signal detector. The
induced anisotropy fields of the MR elements of the present
invention can be made to lie in the direction of the bias fields at
the MR elements, i.e., along the short dimensions of the MR
elements 72,74 as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,560, which is
hereby incorporated by reference.
Referring again to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the depicted
wavelength recorded on the tape 30 is such that a half wavelength
is equal to the separation between the MR elements 72,74. Under
this condition the magnetic fields from the tape 30 at the elements
72,74 are 180 degrees out of phase. In FIG. 4, the change in
resistance vs. magnetic field curves 42,42' is again shown, along
with a signal field 48 applied to the MR element 72 (curve 42
applies), while a signal field 50 is applied to the MR element 74
(curve 42' applies). The wavelength of the signals 48,50 is equal
to twice the separation of the MR elements 72,74 and therefore the
signals 48,50 are 180 degrees out of phase. The signals 48,50 swing
the resistance of the MR elements 72, 74 about the bias points 44
and the change of resistance for the MR element 72 is depicted by
waveform 52, while that for the MR element 74 is depicted by
waveform 54. It will be appreciated that the output signals derived
from the above changes in resistance are in phase in the two
electrically paralleled MR elements, and therefore the resultant
output signal voltages due to the sense currents 88,90 are also in
phase.
The operation of the invention in effecting amplification of a
short wavelength reproduced signal may be understood by referring
to FIG. 5a, FIG. 5b, and FIG. 5c, wherein the parts played by the
magnetic field of the recorded medium, the induced magnetization in
the MR elements, and the induced fields in the MR elements are
shown. (The events portrayed in these figures actually occur
simultaneously, and all fields are present at the same time. In the
figures they are shown occurring in sequence for clarity.) In FIG.
5a, a section of the magnetized medium 30 is illustrated passing
under the MR element 72 and MR element 74. Positive magnetization
36 (arbitrarily defined as pointing to the left in FIG. 5a) and
negative magnetization (in the opposite direction) 34 recorded in
the medium 30 give rise to a signal field H.sub.S. FIG. 5a
illustrates the condition where the distance between the
transitions from positive magnetization to negative magnetization
in the medium 30 approximately equals the separation distance
between the MR element 72 and the MR element 74. This is the
condition for signal amplification. However, as previously noted,
the response is relatively insensitive to spacer thickness when it
is in the range of from one half to one times the distance between
transitions. As shown in FIG. 5a, part of the signal field H.sub.S
threads the low magnetic reluctance path through the MR element 72
and MR element 74. Not shown in FIG. 5a, but still present and
essential to the operation of the device, are the static fields
related to the bias as previously discussed. The field H.sub.S
shown in FIG. 5a is a dynamically incremental field due to the
magnetization in the medium. The H.sub.S field in traversing the
magnetically soft materials comprising the MR elements induces
magnetization M.sub.72 in the MR element 72, and M.sub.74 in the MR
element 74. The induced magnetizations, M.sub.72 and M.sub.74, are
also dynamically incremental since they arise from the signal field
H.sub.S. Because both the MR's 72 and 74 are operating on the
linear portions of their magnetization curves, it will be
appreciated the magnitude of the induced magnetizations M.sub.72
and M.sub.74 are directly proportional to the strength of the field
H.sub.S.
Referring now to FIG. 5b, the magnetization M.sub.74 induced in the
MR element 74 by the signal field H.sub.S of FIG. 5a is shown, but
the field lines of the generating field H.sub.S are omitted for
clarity. The induced magnetization M.sub.74 of the MR element 74 in
FIG. 5b gives rise to a field H.sub.74. The flux lines from the
field H.sub.74 extend to, and are intercepted by, the MR element
72. The intercepted flux from H.sub.74 induces additional
magnetization M.sub.72 in the MR element 72. It will be appreciated
that the direction of the field H.sub.74 is downward at the MR
element 72, and again referring to FIG. 5a, it is seen that
H.sub.74 is attendantly in the direction to reinforce the field
H.sub.s which originally gives rise to the field H.sub.74. Thus the
field H.sub.74 further modulates the angular position of the
magnetization vector of the MR element 72 and further changes the
MR element's 72 magnetoresistance. Referring to FIG. 5c, the
induced magnetization M.sub.72', of the MR element 72 also results
in a field, H.sub.72', flux lines of which are, in turn,
intercepted by the MR element 74. The field, H.sub.72', is upward
at the MR element 74, and again referring to FIG. 5b, it will be
noted that the field H.sub.72, reinforces the magnetization
M.sub.74 further increasing the field H.sub.74. This
"bootstrapping" action between the two MR elements, and the signal
from the medium provides increased output signal from the MR
elements for a given intensity of magnetization of the medium.
When the medium moves 1/2 the signal wavelength, i.e. by the
distance of one signal flux change relative to the head, the
magnetization in the medium below the MR element 72 and the MR
element 74 are of opposite signs to those described above. It will
be appreciated that resultantly the directions of all the induced
fields and magnetizations also change signs, and the overall effect
is the continued reinforcement of the signal field as described
above. The "bootstrapping" again augments the effect of the signal
field Hs at the MR element 72, and amplification thus takes place
for both signs of the alternating signal magnetic field of the
medium.
Referring to FIG. 6, curve 100 is a plot of the response of a dual
electrically shorted MR head in accordance with the invention and,
for comparison, curve 102 is the corresponding response of an
unshielded single MR element head. The head of curve 102 is known
in the art as consisting of an MR element which is biased from an
external fixed bias source, such as a permanent magnet. A
comparison of the curves 100,102 shows the improvement obtained at
short wavelengths with a dual MR electrically shorted head.
As previously described, the amplification at shorter wavelengths
arises when the separation of the flux changes on the medium is of
the same order of magnitude as the distance between the MR
elements. As the spacing between the flux transitions increase in
length, the response of the head of the invention slowly decreases,
with a drop in amplitude when the flux length becomes so long that
both of the MR elements simultaneously "see" a signal of the same
polarity from the medium.
An alternate preferred embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 7, wherein
a dual element magnetoresistive reproduce head 10 comprises sensing
and mutually biasing magnetoresistive elements 12, 14, matched for
magnetoresistive characteristics, electrical resistivity, and
geometrical shape and dimensions. The elements 12, 14 are mated
with an electrically conductive, non-magnetic spacer 16 between the
element 12, 14 in a sandwich configuration. A current 22, which is
the sense current and also the excitation current for biasing the
elements 12, 14, flows in the two leads 18, 20 connected to the
sandwich.
The components of the sandwich are in electrical contact for their
entire lengths and will therefore share any current flowing in the
sandwich depending upon their relative resistances. Because the
magnetoresistive elements 12,14 are matched for electrical
characteristics (as well as magnetic characteristics) and because
of the symmetry of the sandwich, the current 22 will divide into
component currents 24,26,28 where the currents 24,26 flowing in the
same direction through the MR elements 12,14 are equal in
magnitude, and the remainder of the current 22, i.e. the current
28, flows in the spacer 16.
In this embodiment, the presence of the conductive spacer 28
obviates the shorting problem. However, in comparison to the head
70 of FIG. 1, the current 28 shunted through the spacer 16 does not
contribute to signal detection, and for equal power dissipation the
head 10 is not as efficient as the head 70. The head 10 exhibits
amplification characteristics similar to those shown in FIG. 6 for
the head 70. As seen in FIG. 7, the signal from the tape is also
applied in the direction of the short dimension of the MR elements
12,14, and it is therefore advantageous to orient the induced easy
axis along this dimension, as previously described for the head
70.
The invention has been described in detail with particular
reference to preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be
understood that variations and modifications can be effected within
the spirit and scope of the invention.
* * * * *